Helpful Links

There are many resources that may be helpful if you are a victim of domestic violence or are concerned for the safety of a friend or loved one.

Clare’s Law – Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme

The Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme gives members of the public a ‘right to ask’ Police where they have a concern that their partner may pose a risk to them or where they are concerned that the partner of a member of their family or a friend may pose a risk to that individual.

If an application is made under the scheme, Police and partner agencies will carry out checks and if they show that the partner has a record of abusive offences, or there is other information to indicate that there may be a risk from the partner, the Police will consider sharing this information.

How to find out more information about the scheme

If you are interested in finding out more information about the scheme in relation to your own situation or because you are concerned about a friend or family member, you should open the guidance leaflet. If you are still unclear about the scheme, you should contact your local Police Station and ask to speak to a member of staff or dial 101.

How to make an application

To make an application you will need to attend a Police Station in person where a Police Officer or member of Police Staff will take the details of what prompted your enquiry. A safe means of contacting you will be established. You will need to give your name, address and date of birth.

Sarah’s Law

The Child Sex Offender Disclosure Scheme (Sarah’s law) allows members of the public to make a request that the police investigate a person. However, no disclosure will be made unless the applicant is a parent, carer or guardian of a child requiring information regarding a person who has unsupervised access to that particular child or children.

Once an application for an investigation has been made the police will require the applicant to specify the grounds for the investigation and the nature of the relationship between the applicant and the child, the applicant and the individual and the individual and the child. The applicant will be invited to an interview with the police where matters will be enquired into further.

Whilst the police have a duty to explore the request, there is no requirement for the police to disclose any information and all requests for information about named individuals will be discussed by the police, probation and safeguarding children staff in order to determine whether the release of information will provide additional protection for the child(ren) in question.

If information is disclosed, the applicant will be required to sign a confidentiality agreement and be subject to sanctions should any unlawful disclosure be made. See link in related information for more details.

Hollie Guard

A free app for smartphones has been designed to protect both men and women from possible danger.

Hollie Guard turns your smartphone into an advanced personal safety device at the touch of a button. If in danger simply shake your phone to generate an alert, your location, audio and video evidence of the incident will automatically be sent to your emergency contact via text and email. Shake it again and it sends out a high pitched alarm and the flash starts to strobe, in order to attract maximum attention.

From the moment Hollie Guard is activated, your location is tracked and can be viewed in real time by your emergency contact. Evidence is not stored on the smartphone but on secure servers so that it can be used as future as evidence.

Hollie Guard also contains many other features including:

If travelling the Journey feature allows you to notify your friends, family and co-workers of your movements. An email or text will be generated and sent to your emergency contacts when you have safely completed your journey.

Meetings allow you to identify when you are going to a meeting or working alone. An alert will automatically be created if the timer expires or you do not cancel the meeting.

Man down facility provides extra protection for users in situations where injury or personal immobilisation is possible by flagging sudden deceleration, non-movement and impact.

Hollie Guard was developed by Panic Guard Ltd for the Hollie Gazzard Trust and is named after Hollie. The Hollie Gazzard Trust was set up after the murder of Hollie Gazzard at her salon in Gloucester in 2014 by her then boyfriend – Asher Maslin, who had actively stalked Hollie during an abusive relationship.